THE  MENACE 


PROHIBITION 

BY 

LULU    WIGHTMAN 

ADVOCATE  OF  CiVIL  AND 
RELIGIOUS   LIBERTY 


They  that  can  give  up  essential  liberty  to 
obtain  a  little  temporary  safety  deserve 
neither  liberty  nor  safety.—  Patrick  Henry 


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GREAT  QUESTIONS 
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A  pamphlet  containing  a  series  of  Mrs. 
Wightman's  Lectures  on  themes  of  absorb- 
ing interest  -  about  the  very  things  that 
YQU  are  THIKING  and  TALKING  about 


•-•.:  ;-  :  .''4-^  the  all-important  questions 

-  the  perplexing  questions 

-  the  paramount  questions 

Mrs.  Wightman's  views  on  public  matters  - 
political,  religious  and  economic  —  should 
claim  the  serious  attention  of  every  citizen 
of  the  United  States 

A  Third  Edition  necessary  to  meet  the  demand 

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Mrs.  LULU  WIGHTMAN 

314  West  First  St.,  Los  Angeles,  Cal. 


THE  MENACE 

of 
PROHIBITION 


BY 
LULU  WIGHTMAN 


"No  man  in  America  has  any  right  to  rest  conten- 
ted and  easy  and  indifferent,  for  never  before,  not 
even  in  the  time  of  the  Civil  War,  have  all  the 
energies  and  all  the  devotion  of  the  American 
democracy  been  demanded  for  the  perpetuity  of 
American  institutions,  for  the  continuance  of  the 
American  republic  against  foes  without  and  more 
insidious  foes  within  than  in  the  year  of  grace  1 9 1 6." 

— Hon.  Elihu  Root,  in  address  before  the  New  York 
State  Bar  Association,  Hotel  Astor,  New  York, 
January  15th,  1916. 


Copyright,  1916,  by  Lulu  Wightman 


M 


PREFACE 


MOST  writers,  in  viewing  the  question  of  Prohibi- 
tion, have  followed  along  a  beaten  track.     They 
have  confined  themselves  generally  to  considera- 
tion  of   moral,    economic,   and   religious   phases   of   the 
subject. 

While  I  have  not  entirely  ignored  these  phases,  I 
have  chiefly  engaged  in  the  task  of  pointing  out  a  particu- 
lar phase  that  it  appears  to  me  entirely  outweighs  all 
others  put  together ;  namely,  that  of  the  effect  of  Prohibi- 
tion, in  its  ultimate  and  practical  workings,  upon  the 
political — the  structure  of  American  civil  government. 

I  have  endeavored  to  steer  clear  of  its  professions 
and  obsessions,  all  of  which  can  be  of  little  consequence 
in  the  light  of  my  contention  that  the  major  matter  with 
which  Prohibition  is  concerned  is  the  capture  and  over- 
turning of  our  present  system  of  jurisprudence ;  and  that 
the  danger  threatening  from  this  tendency  is  real  and 
foreboding  I  have  conscientiously  tried  to  make  clear  in 
these  pages. 

That  National  Prohibition  is  an  approaching  enemy 
to  free  government,  of  which  the  people  should  be  warned 
even  at  the  risk  of  being  grossly  misunderstood,  is  my 
opinion.  From  the  watch-towers  of  American  liberty 
the  warning  should  go  forth.  For  my  own  part,  I  feel 
well-repaid  with  the  conscientious  effort  I  have  made  in 
"The  Menace  of  Prohibition." 

LULU  WIGHTMAN. 


™ 


LULU  WIGHTMAN. 


'""'-'CONTENTS 

PAGE 

A  False  Principle                                 •  6 

Political  Power  the  Object  9 

Political  Activities  at  Washington  10 

Prohibition  and  Sunday  Laws  13 

Sumptuary  Laws  Increasing             •  14 

A  Dangerous  Combination  1  7 

An  Old-Time  Fallacy  21 

Industrial  Conditions  Responsible  23 

The  Opinion  of  an  Economist       -  24 

Effects  of  Prohibition  26 

Collective  Tyranny  in  Government  29 

Prohibition  Censorship  Despotic    -  30 


We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident:  that  all 
men  are  created  equal;  that  they  are  endowed  by 
their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights;  that 
among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  hap- 
piness.— The  Declaration  of  Independence. 


John  Stuart  Mill  defines  Prohibition  in  this  language: 

"Prohibition:  A  theory  of  'social  rights'  which  is 
nothing  short  of  this — that  it  is  the  absolute  right  of 
every  individual  that  every  other  individual  shall  act  in 
every  respect  exactly  as  he  ought;  that  whosoever  fails 
thereof  in  the  smallest  particular  violates  my  social  rights 
and  entitles  me  to  demand  from  the  legislature  the  re- 
moval of  the  grievance.  So  monstrous  a  principle  is  far 
more  dangerous  than  any  single  interference  with  lib- 
erty;—  there  is  no  violation  of  liberty  which  it  would 
not  justify." 

And  in  the  light  of  the  last  sentence,  "so  monstrous  a 
principle  is  far  more  dangerous  than  any  single  interfer- 
ence with  liberty ; —  there  is  no  violation  of  liberty  which 
it  would  not  justify,"  the  writer  would  especially  exam- 
ine this  modern  crusaders  movement  for  Prohibition. 
Many  other  writers  have  viewed  the  question  from  soci- 
ological, economic,  and  religious  standpoints;  but  the 
principle  of  the  thing, —  that  in  which  it  is  based  —  a 
"monstrous"  principle,  which,  as  Mill  says,  "is  far  more 
dangerous  than  any  single  interference  with  liberty," 
deserves  more  serious  consideration  than  any  other  phase 
of  the  question:  a  principle,  in  fact,  of  intolerant  coer- 
cion as  against  the  great  principle  of  individual  liberty 

5 


sq  thoroughly,  e&ta-blished  as  the  inherent  right  of  the  citi- 
zen;^ 'the  v6fy  •inception  of  this  government  in  the  West- 


*'  "  To  'do  justice'  to  this  particular  phase  of  the  question 
of  Prohibition  —  a   principle     so     dangerous    and  "mon- 
strous" that  there  is  "no  violation  of  liberty  which  it 
would   not  justify"  —  it  is   necessary  to  be  courageous, 
honest,  unafraid,  and  not  "soaked  to  the  pulp  in  the  pseu- 
do-puritanical, moral  antiseptic  bath  of  conventional  prej- 
udices."    Here  in  America  we  have  had  enough  of  base 
misrepresentation,  rotten     hypocrisy,     and  sugar-coated 
sentimentality.     What  we  really  need  now  is  honesty  of 
purpose  and  courage  of  conviction,  let  the  criticizing  mob 
be  of  "the  upper  ten  thousand  or  lower,"  it  matters  not. 

A  False  Principle 

What  Is  the  Real  Menace  of  Prohibition? 

It  is  the  false  principle  from  which  it  derives  its  life 
and  being.  "We  are  the  good  people,"  say  the  moral  re- 
formers :  "you  are  the  bad  ;  therefore  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
good  people  to  seek  control  of  the  government  and  to 
enact  laws  that  will  make  you  bad  people  good."  The 
platform  of  the  Prohibition  Party  of  Ohio  states  it  in  a 
different  way,  but  in  essence  it  is  the  same  thing: 

"The  Prohibition  Party  of  Ohio  .  .  .  recognizing 
Almighty  God,  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  accepting 
the  law  of  God  as  the  ultimate  standard  of  right  .  .  .  the 
referendum  in  all  matters  of  legislation  not  distinctively 
moral." 

In  this  scheme  of  government,  as  it  is  plainly  re- 
vealed, "the  law  of  God"  as  it  would  be  interpreted  by 
the  Prohibitionists,  would  be  the  supreme  standard  of  all 
matters  distinctively  moral,  and  the  initiative  and  ref- 


erendum  would  be  relied  upon,  and  allowed  in  all  mat- 
ters of  legislation  "not  distinctively  moral." 

This  was  exactly  what  happened  in  the  Dark  Ages 
and  early  New  England :  "good  people"  sought  and  se- 
'cured  the  control  of  the  government,  "the  law  of  God" 
was  made  "the  ultimate  standard  of  right"  as  interpreted 
by  the  "good  people"  in  power,  and  the  "bad  people" 
were  put  to  the  torture. 

As  the  result  of  just  such  a  scheme,  barbaric  practices 
reigned  in  the  name  of  law :  thumb-screw  and  rack  were 
brought  into  requisition,  Calvin  burned  Servetus,  Quak- 
ers were  hanged  and  witches  burned,  Roger  Williams 
banished,  and  Mary  Dyer  hung  by  the  neck  until  she 
was  dead, —  and  all  because  "Almighty  God,  revealed  in 
Jesus  Christ,"  was  recognized  in  government,  and  "the 
law  of  God"  made  the  ultimate  standard  of  right. 

But  between  "Almighty  God"  and  "the  law  of  God" 
there  always  stood  the  interpreter  of  that  law,  and  the 
bigoted,  blinded,  fanatical  follower  of  Creed  who  mistook 
his  creed  for  God,  and  his  will  and  opinion  for  the  law  of 
God.  Had  God  and  His  law  been  left  alone,  no  possible 
harm  could  have  resulted. 

Under  this  scheme  of  religious  and  moral  govern- 
ment, Jews,  agnostics,  and  non-Christian  elements,  and 
even  Christians  that  do  not  acquiesce  in  the  scheme,  have 
no  recognition ;  and  under  the  administration  of  the 
moral  reform  element  would  have  no  place  in  the  coun- 
try, except  on  sufferance!  And  just  what  would  happen 
to  people  who  repudiated  a  church-and-state  system  of 
government  like  this!  Let  us  see: 

The  Prohibitionist  invariably  argues  that  "the  God 
of  the  Bible"  authorizes  Prohibition  in  civil  government; 
it  is  religious,  and  a  Bible  doctrine,  he  contends,  and 
therefore  should  receive  recognition  not  only  by  the  peo- 
ple, but  by  the  government  as  well;  and  all  who  cannot, 

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whether  from  conscientious  scruples  or  other  reasons, 
agree  with  them,  are  opponents  of  "the  God  of  the  Bi- 
ble," of  true  religion,  and  of  government.  Very  fre- 
quently the  charge  of  "anarchist"  is  hurled  against  those 
who  cannot  agree  with  them,  and  ofttimes  the  most  un- 
scrupulous and  un-Christian  methods  are  resorted  to,  to 
crush  out  all  opposition.  And  what  the  opponents  of 
Prohibition  might  expect,  if  Prohibition  ever  reaches  the 
zenith  of  political  power,  may  be  determined  from  a  state- 
ment by  Rev.  E.  B.  Graham,  in  a  speech  made  at  York, 
Neb.  He  said : 

"We  might  add,  in  all  justice,  if  the  opponents  of  the 
Bible  do  not  like  our  government  and  its  Christian  feat- 
ures, let  them  go  to  some  wild  and  desolate  land,  and  in 
the  name  of  the  devil  and  for  the  sake  of  the  devil,  sub- 
due it,  and  set  up  a  government  of  their  own  on  infidel 
and  atheistic  ideas;  and  then  if  they  can  stand  it,  stay 
there  till  they  die." 

The  foregoing,  at  least,  shows  some  of  the  Christian 
features  ( ?)  of  the  program  of  the  Reform  party.  The 
program  winds  up  with  the  banishment  of  the  minority 
to  some  wild  and  desolate  land  where  they  may  remain 
until  they  die!  The  trouble  is,  if  liberty-loving  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  jealous  of  their  rights  and  constitu- 
tional guaranties  and  determined  to  preserve  them  even 
to  the  point  of  quitting  their  beloved  country,  should 
go  to  some  wild  and  desolate  land,  and  set  up  a  govern- 
ment where  they  could  enjoy  religious  and  personal  free- 
dom, it  would  not  satisfy  the  Prohibition  moral-reform 
forces.  All  past  history  shows  that  they  would  follow 
to  the  wild  and  desolate  land,  and  destroy,  if  possible, 
every  vestige  of  such  government  as  was  opposed  to  their 
narrow  and  intolerant  ideas! 


Political  Power  the  Object 

The  initiative  and  referendum  is  good  enough  for  the 
Prohibition  Party  when  applied  to  "all  matters  of  legis- 
lation not  distinctively  moral;"  but  when  morals  are  in- 
volved, "the  law  of  God"  only  is  binding,  and  the  initia- 
tive and  referendum  is  repudiated.  Their  interpretation 
of  the  demands  of  "the  law  of  God" — not  actually  the 
law  itself  —  would  become  the  supreme  law  of  the  land, 
and  all  the  power  of  the  government,  in  their  hands, 
would  be  set  to  enforcing  it.  Need  it  be  said  that  this 
would  be  repeating  the  history  of  the  Dark  Ages  and 
Medieval  times  in  the  most  accurate  detail ! 

Mr.  Eugene  W.  Chafin,  Prohibition  candidate  for 
president,  in  1912,  said: 

"I  don't  want  any  person  who  claims  to  be  a  party 
Prohibitionist  —  a  middle-of-the-road  Prohibitionist  — 
ever  to  sign  another  petition,  or  ask  Congress  or  any 
legislature  anywhere  under  the  American  flag  to  pass 
any  prohibitive  laws  on  the  liquor  question.  We  don't 
want  any  laws  of  any  kind  whatever  passed.  All  we 
want  is  to  be  elected  to  power.  .  .  .  Elect  us  to 
power,  and  we  will  repeal  a  few  laws  and  do  the  rest  by 
interpretation  of  the  constitution  and  administration  of 
the  government." 

Mr.  Ferdinand  Cowle  Inglehart,  N.  Y.,  Supt.,  of  the 
Anti-Saloon  League,  in  the  Review  of  Reviews,  Febru- 
ary, 1915,  page  216,  said: 

"The  pastors  and  members  of  the  churches  turned 
the  State  (Oregon)  into  an  organized  political  camp." 

This  was  indeed  a  frank  confession  upon  the  part  of 
Mr.  Inglehart.  He  might  have  truthfully  added  that  it 
was  the  Anti-Saloon  League  which  was  the  moving  spirit 
that  invaded  the  churches  and  spurred  on  the  "pastors 
and  members  of  the  churches"  to  turn  the  sovereign 

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State  of  Oregon  into  "an  organized  political  camp."  A 
political  camp  is,  beyond  question,  organized  for  polit- 
ical ends.  Prohibition  in  Oregon,  as  elsewhere,  was  the 
"Cheshire  cheese,"  and  political  power  the  goal  of  its 
ambition.  And  now  in  Oregon,  as  elsewhere,  we  shall 
hear  the  cry :  "Now  that  we  have  Prohibition,  we  must 
fill  the  public  offices  with  'good  men'  to  enforce  the  law : 
'turn  the  rascals  out'  and  put  good  men  in  office";  and, 
of  course,  "good  men"  must  be  Prohibitionists  always. 
None  others  need  apply.  Oh,  it  is  a  fine  scheme;  but 
unfortunately,  it  takes  no  cognizance  of  the  minority — 
those  who  are  quite  equal  in  American  citizenship,  and 
who  lose  none  of  their  civil  rights  by  virtue  of  their  be- 
ing the  minority. 

Political  Activities  at  Washington 

Mr.  L.  Ames  Brown,  in  "Prohibition  and  Politics," 
published  in  the  North  American  Review  of  December, 
1915,  points  to  some  of  the  features  of  the  Anti-Saloon 
League  programme,  in  the  nationalization  of  prohibition 
—  a  very  interesting  and  valuable  contribution  upon  the 
subject.  Very  accurately  —  and  apparently  without  any 
prejudices  —  Mr.  Brown  shows  the  workings  of  the  Pro- 
hibitionists in  the  political. 

He  calls  attention  to  the  Prohibition  rider  in  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia  Appropriation  Bill,  "an  amendment  to 
the  District  Bill  to  foist  prohibition  upon  the  people  of 
the  District  without  a  referendum,"  and  continuing, 
says: 

"The  Prohibitionists,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  re- 
fused to  listen  to  suggestions  that  the  legislation  be  sub- 
mitted to  a  vote  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  thus  disre- 
garding the  principle  of  self-government  which  they  had 
agitated  so  vigorously  in  local  option  campaigns." 

10 


In  this  attempt  to  force  the  people  of  the  District  to 
submit  to  their  dictation,  and  to  keep  them  from  voting 
upon   the   measure,   the   Prohibitionists   showed   clearly 
that  they  were  without  regard  for  the  sentiment  of  the 
people  to  be  affected.    This  was  evidently  one  of  those 
"distinctively  moral"  questions  upon  which  the  people 
are  not  supposed  to  vote  —  or  at  least  are  not  to  be  al- 
lowed to  vote,  if  the  Prohibitionists  can  have  their  way 
—  but  in  this  act  at  the  seat  of  government,  they  have, 
indeed,  given  proof  of  their  absolute  disregard  for  the 
principle  of  self-government  which  they  prate  so  much 
about  in  local  option  campaigns.     They  have  shown  to 
what  lengths  they  would  go,  if  they  could. 

Mr.  Brown  is  authority  for  the  statement  that  had 
this  District  Bill  gone  to  President  Wilson  without  a 
provision  for-  a  referendum,  he  would  have  immediately 
vetoed  it. 

According  to  Mr.  Brown,  the  Anti-Saloon  League  is 
strongly  intrenched  at  Washington.  He  says  that  it 
"maintains  at  Washington  one  of  the  most  powerful  lob- 
bies ever  seen  at  the  National  Capital,"  and  regarding  its 
influence  upon  the  nation's  law-makers  he  has  this  to 
say: 

"Its  representatives,  backed  by  an  organized  influ- 
ence of  public  opinion,  are  enabled  to  dictate  the  attitude 
of  a  considerable  number  of  Congressmen  on  a  pending 
question,  with  the  result  that  Congressmen  oftentimes 
are  driven  to  vote  against  their  own  views  and  their  own 
consciencies  in  favor  of  measures  advocated  by  the 

lobby." 

"Mr.  Brown  gives  a  very  lucid  account  of  the  bold 
and  defiant  activities  of  the  powerful  Anti-Saloon  League 
lobby  at  Washington  —  and  as  to  the  results,  he  has  this 

to  say : 

"The  harmful   effect  of  such    a    lobbying  enterpn 

11 


upon  our  system  of  government  does  not  admit  of  con- 
troversy." 

Mr.  Brown  is  convincing  to  the  reader  in  his  con- 
clusions of  "Prohibition  and  Politics"  which,  to  sum  up, 
may  be  stated  as  — A  GROWING  AND  INSIDIOUS 
POWER  IN  THE  POLITICAL  REALM,  INIMICAL 
TO  THE  AMERICAN  INSTITUTIONS  OF  GOV- 
ERNMENT. And  if  a  rapidly  growing  power,  which 
was  practically  unknown  a  decade  ago,  is  so  great  in 
politics  and  government  today,  what  may  we  expect  a 
decade  hence ! 

The  Prohibition  movement  then,  unquestionably,  is 
simply  a  means  to  an  end, — the  stepping-stone  to  polit- 
ical power, — the  pathway  to  the  goal  of  political  ambi- 
tion; and  it  seems  only  fair  to  presume  that  all  the  hue 
and  cry  over  drunkenness  and  the  inability  of  some  men 
to  control  their  natural  appetites  is,  after  all,  only  a  minor 
matter;  but  the  question  of  seizing  the  political  power, 
and  filling  governmental  offices  only  with  "good  men" 
is  the  major  matter.  And  the  real  issue,  power  to  rule 
and  to  enjoy  the  emoluments  of  public  office.  And  the 
real  menace,  the  overturning  of  the  present  system  of 
government  wherein  the  privileges  and  rights  of  the  indi- 
vidual are  safeguarded,  and  the  setting  up  of  a  new 
standard  of  authority,  namely,  "the  law  of  God"  as  in- 
terpreted by  the  Prohibitionists  and  moral  reformers. 
And  it  is  the  interpretation  that  is  to  be  feared! 

The  remotest  possibility  of  the  success  of  such  an  un- 
just, un-American,  illiberal  and  dangerous  form  of  tyran- 
ny in  government,  should  alarm  the  American  people 
beyond  and  above  every  other  question,  even  that  of  war ; 
and  should  set  them  to  the  task  of  a  close  analysis  of  the 
subject  and  trend  of  Prohibition. 

When  the  true  American  finds  that  as  a  result  of 
the  outgrowths  of  the  "monstrous  principle,"  and  under 

12 


rapidly  multiplying  laws  and  regulations,  he  is  forbidden 
to  dispose  of  his  property  as  he  pleases;  forbidden  to 
amuse  himself  as  he  pleases  on  holidays;  forbidden  to 
read  what  books  he  pleases  and  to  look  at  what  pictures 
he  pleases ;  to  dress,  think  and  drink  as  he  pleases,  he 
will  set  his  face  like  a  flint  against  the  tyrannical  and 
inquisitorial  demands  of  the  modern  Crusaders,  and  he 
will  attempt  to  halt  their  inroads  and  innovations  on  the 
government.  The  ballot-box  is  his  opportunity.  There 
he  may  register  his  disapprobation,  and  put  a  curb  on  the 
restless,  uneasy,  political  charlatan  who,  under  the  guise 
of  moral  reform,  would  seize  the  machinery  of  political 
government  and  make  it  an  engine  of  tyranny  and  op- 
pression. 

It  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  the  clerical  politicians 
of  the  Prohibition  party  (no  distinction  can  be  made  be- 
tween the  Prohibition  Party  and  the  Anti-Saloon 
League:  they  are  one  and  the  same  in  intent  and  pur- 
pose) are  interested  not  merely  in  the  enactment  of  pro- 
hibitory liquor  laws.  They  want  laws  prohibiting  every- 
thing that  does  not  conform  to  their  interpretation  oi 
theological  dogmas. 

Prohibition  and  Sunday  Laws 

They  are  as  determined  to  secure  compulsory  Sab- 
bath Day  observance  laws  as  they  are  to  obtain  Prohibi- 
tion laws ;  and  wherever  and  whenever  you  find  a  move- 
ment for  one,  you  invariably  find,  sooner  or  later,  a 
demand  for  the  other.  Prohibition  and  Sunday  laws  go 
hand  in  hand.  In  fact,  they  result  from  the  same  cause 
—  the  desire  to  control  individuals;  the  application  in 
civil  law  of  the  fallacious  theory  that  it  is  "the  social 
right  of  every  individual  that  every  other  individual  shall 
act  in  every  respect  exactly  as  he  ought  to  act."  Noth- 

13 


ing  is  further  from  the  truth  of  the  principle  of  free  and 
popular  government,  and  nothing  so  destructive  of  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  man. 

Sunday  laws  can  find  no  justification  except  in  a 
church-and-state  system  of  government  which  essays  to 
establish  a  practice  grounded  in  religious  belief;  to  fix 
upon  a  particular  rest-day,  and  say  to  individuals  how 
they  shall  observe  that  day.  A  compulsory  law  for  Sun- 
day or  Sabbath  observance  is  equivalent  to  a  law  for 
compulsory  baptism,  or  compulsory  church  service,  or 
the  support  of  the  church :  in  like  manner,  sumptuary 
laws  that  determine  what  one  may  not  drink,  may  extend 
to  defining  what  one  may  eat,  ad  infinitum,  until  a  thou- 
sand and  one  articles  of  food  and  drink  are  "unlawful" — 
articles  of  diet  and  consumption  that  to  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  citizens  may  seem  harmless,  if  not,  indeed, 
beneficial.  The  Sabbath  law  says  to  you  what  you  must 
religiously  do ;  and  if  it  may  extend  to  the  observance  of 
a  day,  it  may  extend  to  all  religious  duties  and  practices 
without  exception :  the  Prohibition  law  tells  you 
what  you  may  not  drink,  and  if  it  presumes  the  right  to 
prescribe  in  the  matter  of  drink,  it  may  extend  to  the 
matter  of  determining  what  is  fit,  and  what  is  not  fit, 
to  eat  —  and  it  could  continue  until  a  Dietary  List  and 
a  Fashion  Plate  had  been  fixed  by  legal  enactment.  It 
is  not  difficult  to  see  that  the  Sunday  law  and  Prohibi- 
tion are  quite  identical  in  character;  the  source  of  their 
origin  must  be  the  same:  at  least,  it  is  plain  that  their 
introduction  and  operation  in  civil  government  is  destruc- 
tive of  personal  freedom  and  choice. 

Sumptuary  Laws  Increasing 

These  restrictions  by  law  are  eternally  increasing, 
so  that  it  has  become  almost  impossible  for  a  citizen  of 

14 


the  republic  to  live  a  single  day  without  violating  one  or 
more  laws.  In  almost  every  relation  of  life  the  conduct 
of  the  American  is  minutely  regulated. 

Many  of  these  restrictions  are  founded  upon  a  mud- 
dled conception  of  the  public  good :  their  aim  would 
seem  to  be  to  protect  the  innocent  bystander.  But  we 
cannot  see  how  the  innocent  bystander  profits,  when  the 
free  citizen  is  forbidden  to  go  fishing  on  Sunday,  to  smoke 
in  public,  to  see  certain  plays,  to  get  Anthony  Comstock 
reports  and  the  Kreutzer  Sonata  through  the  mails;  to 
say  in  public  just  what  he  wants  to  say  —  to  exercise 
freedom  of  speech;  to  kiss  his  girl  in  the  parks,  or  a 
woman  to  wear  abbreviated  skirts, — ad  libitum! 

These  prohibitions  burden  the  individual  without  con- 
ferring any  appreciable  advantage  upon  the  mass,  or  even 
upon  other  individuals.  The  struggle  between  two 
wholly  different  theories  of  life  —  the  Puritanical  spirit 
on  one  hand,  and  the  Liberal  spirit  on  the  other  —  is  on, 
and  it  is  becoming  fiercer  every  day.  Said  Congressman 
Richard  Bartholdt,  in  a  speech  made  in  the  House  of 
Representatives : 

"The  attempts  to  further  and  further  restrict  our  lib- 
erties in  a  Puritan  sense  are  carried  on  in  the  garb  of  a 
religious  movement,  and  the  ministers  of  all  churches 
and  the  members  of  all  congregations  are  constantly 
called  upon  for  support  and  money  to  maintain  lobbies 
in  both  the  national  and  state  capitals;  and  these  lobby- 
ists are  cracking  the  whip  over  our  lawmakers,  and  are 
urging  them  to  pass  more  and  more  restrictive  laws, — 
laws  which  in  their  mistaken  zeal,  they  believe  will  make 
people  good.  I  do  not  exaggerate,  my  friends,  when  I 
say  that  if  this  movement  is  not  stopped,  and  stopped 
soon,  the  American  people  before  long  will  find  them- 
selves wrapped  up  in  a  network  of  'don'tV  which  will 
completely  hamper  their  freedom  of  action;  and  instead 

15 


of  being  freemen  in  all  matters  of  personal  conduct, 
they  will  be  slaves  fettered  by  the  chains  of  un-American 
laws. 

"Permit  me,  in  this  connection,  to  call  attention  to  a 
most  remarkable  fact;  namely,  that  the  people  in  many 
cases  actually  vote  to  enslave  themselves.  History  tells 
us  of  despots  who  kept  their  subjects  in  perpetual  serf- 
dom, and  of  rulers  who  robbed  the  people  of  their  free- 
dom; but  there  is  no  case  on  record,  so  far  as  we  know, 
where  the  people  of  their  own  volition  and  by  their  own 
votes  robbed  themselves  of  their  own  birthright.  The 
United  States  is  the  first  example  of  this  kind.  The  his- 
tory of  the  human  race  is  a  constant  struggle  for  liberty, 
and  every  concession  wrung  from  the  oppressors  was 
heralded  as  a  new  triumph  of  progress  and  civilization. 
Here  we  have  the  example  of  a  generation  which,  though 
being  free,  voluntarily  surrenders  its  social  liberty  and 
forges  with  its  own  hands  the  fetters  of  slavery.  Now, 
can  you  account  for  that?  Is  it  because  we  do  not  suf- 
ficiently appreciate  our  heritage  on  the  theory  that  what 
you  inherit  and  what  comes  to  you  easily  you  do  not 
value  as  what  you  have  to  fight  for  yourselves?  Or  is  it 
because  the  people  do  not  fully  realize  just  what  they  are 
doing  by  joining  forces  with  those  who  are  conspiring 
against  their  highest  interests?  I  leave  these  questions 
for  you  to  answer.  Perhaps  we  are  guilty  on  both 
counts." 

If  the  writer  were  to  answer  these  questions,  she 
would  be  constrained  to  say  that  the  last  count  is  the 
strongest  count :  the  people  do  not  realize  what  they  are 
doing  by  joining  forces  with  those  who  are  conspiring 
against  their  highest  interests.  The  average  American, 
has  become  a  chronic  joiner.  He  does  not  stand  for 
something:  he  must  belong  to  something.  The  Prohi- 
bition movement  conies  along  and  appeals  to  his  senti- 

16 


mental  and  emotional  nature.  He  has  been  schooled  to 
depend  largely  on  sentiment,  and  trained  to  march  with 
the  crowd.  To  act  as  a  responsible  unit  has  been  prac- 
tically impossible.  He  has  never  thought  upon  the  ques- 
tion deeply;  he  has  been  part  of  a  muddled  mass  of  hu- 
manity, thinking  as  the  mass  thought  and  acting  as  they 
acted :  he  has  not  been  the  soul-free  individual  he  im- 
agined himself  to  be;  his  acts  and  opinions  have  been 
nothing  more  than  weak  reflections  of  the  opinions  and 
acts  of  the  muddled  mass.  He  joins  the  Prohibition 
forces,  and  thereafter  thinks  less  than  before,  because, 
being  joined  to  something,  he  can  safely  trust  to  that 
something  —  the  organized  mass  which,  in  turn,  thinks 
and  acts  just  as  a  few  self-appointed  and  ambitious  lead- 
ers think  and  act.  There  is  no  more  for  him  to  do  now 
than  to  walk  up  to  the  polls  and  vote  precisely  as  he  is 
bidden  to  do.  He  has  become  a  real  automaton. 

And  he  does  not  once  realize  that  he  has  joined  forces 
with  those  who  are  conspiring  against  his  highest  inter- 
ests. He  helps  to  pass  a  law  that  takes  away  his  neigh- 
bor's rights  and  privileges,  and  does  not  dream  that  in 
so  doing  he  is  taking  away  his  own  rights  and  constitu- 
tional guaranties,  and  as  surely  undermining  the  fabric  of 
our  free  institutions  and  thereby  hastening  national  de- 
cay and  national  ruin. 

A  Dangerous  Combination 

Prohibitionists,  once  they  are  seated  upon  the  throne 
of  civil  power,  do  not  intend  to  stop  at  the  passage  of 
laws  prohibiting  the  liquor  traffic.  As  has  already  been 
stated,  they  are  fully  as  interested  in  securing  compul- 
sory Sabbath  observance  laws,  and  in  fact,  as  stated  at 
the  *Inter-Church  Conference  in  New  York  City  in  1905, 
"to  secure  a  larger  combined  influence  for  the  churches 

*Inter-church  Conference  was  the  beginning  of  the  National 
Federation  of  the  Churches,  which  maintains  a  Prohibition  depart- 
ment and  is  committed  to  the  programme  of  Prohibition. 

17 


of  Christ  in  all  matters  affecting  the  moral  and  social 
conditions  of  the  people,  so  as  to  promote  the  application 
of  the  law  of  Christ  in  every  relation  of  human  life."  This, 
indeed,  means  a  wide  range  of  activities,  and  the  indi- 
vidual citizen  may  well  enquire,  and  with  apprehension, 
as  to  just  how  far  this  combined  influence  is  to  go  in  its 
invasion  of  "every  relation  of  human  life."  If  it  actually 
means  what  it  says,  and  proposes  to  invade  "every  rela- 
tion of  human  life"  with  a  string  of  laws  and  regulations 
as  complex  and  as  multitudinous  as  the  relations  of  hu- 
man lives,  the  student  of  political  government,  if  not 
the  citizen,  may  ask  of  this  gigantic  combination  of  the 
so-called  moral  forces  of  the  country:  what  will  be  the 
ultimatum?  Where  will  it  all  end?  What  is  to  become 
of  the  unit  of  citizenship? 

"Straws  show  which  way  the  wind  is  blowing,"  is  an 
old  saying.  In  this  connection,  the  following  article  — 
a  portion  of  an  editorial  —  that  appeared  in  the  Sacra- 
mento (Cal.)  Bee,  Oct.  7,  1915,  is  both  interesting  and 
significant : 

As  a  further  example  of  the  intolerant,  domineer- 
ing and  narrow-minded  tendencies  of  the  prohibi- 
tionists, witness  this  communication  recently  pub- 
lished by  the  New  York  Evening  Sun,  signed 
"Herman  Trent,  of  the  Anti-Saloon  League,"  and 
dated  at  Englewood,  New  Jersey: 

"Speaking  now  in  my  personal  capacity,  and  not 
as  a  member  of  the  Anti-Saloon  League,  I  will  say  I 
regard  the  anti-liquor  crusade  as  merely  the  begin- 
ning of  a  much  larger  movement — a  movement  that 
will  have  as  its  watchword  'Efficiency  in  Govern- 
ment.' 

"If  I  had  my  way  I  would  not  only  close  up  the 
saloons  and  the  race-tracks.  I  would  close  all  to- 
bacco shops,  confectionery  stores,  delicatessen  shops 

18 


and  other  places  where  gastronomic  deviltries  are 
purveyed — all  low  theatres  and  bathing  beaches. 

"I  would  forbid  the  selling  of  gambling  devices 
such  as  playing  cards,  dice,  checkers  and  chess  sets ; 
I  would  forbid  the  holding  of  socialistic,  anarchistic 
and  atheistic  meetings;  I  would  abolish  the  sale  of 
tea  and  coffee,  and  I  would  forbid  the  making  or 
sale  of  pastry,  pie,  cake  and  such  like  trash." 

This  at  least  is  consistent.  And  Mr.  Trent  is  start- 
lingly  frank  in  thus  boldly  publishing  his  programme.  In 
a  lecture  work  extending  to  all  parts  of  this  country  and 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  time,  I  have  found  a  great 
many  Herman  Trents,  and  I  fear  they  are  increasing, 
and  I  know  they  are  becoming  emboldened.  After  all, 
are  we  so  far  removed  from  the  blue-law  regime  of  early 
New  England?  Be  certain  of  one  thing:  today,  we  would 
see  just  such  a  regime  except  for  a  due  regard  for  the 
Constitution  and  a  minimum  majority  of  votes. 

As  to  compulsory  Sabbath  observance  by  civil  law, 
we  have  the  recommendation  of  the  general  assembly 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  held  in  Chicago  recently. 
The  resolutions  of  this  national  church  body  were  as 
follows : 

"That  the  general  assembly  reiterates  its  strong  and 
emphatic  disapproval  of  all  secular  uses  of  the  Sabbath 
day,  all  games  and  sports,  in  civic  life,  and  also  in  the 
army  and  navy,  all  unnecessary  traveling  and  all  excur- 
sions. 

"That  we  most  respectfully  call  attention  of  all  pub- 
lic officials  to  the  potent  influence  of  their  position  on  all 
moral  questions,  and  the  necessity  of  greater  care  on 
their  part,  proportioned  to  the  exalted  nature  of  their 
offices  which  they  occupy,  that  they  may  strengthen 
rather  than  weaken  by  their  influence  public  and  private 
observance  of  the  Lord's  day. 

19 


"That  the  general  assembly  reiterates  its  emphatic 
condemnation  of  the  Sunday  newspaper,  and  urges  the 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  church  to  refuse  to  sub- 
scribe for  it  or  read  it  or  advertise  in  it." 

Here  is  a  demand  for  blue  laws,  pure  and  simple.  If 
any  American  citizen  will  read  the  history  of  the  blue 
laws  of  Connecticut,  and  how  Cotton  Mather  whipped 
the  people  through  the  streets  of  early  New  England 
towns  for  failure  to  attend  Sunday  services  in  the  meet- 
ing-houses, he  will  think  seriously  before  lending  a  help- 
ing hand  to  the  work  of  re-inaugurating  a  social  and 
civil  system  like  that. 

Prohibition  and  Sunday  laws  are  so  closely  allied, 
so  thoroughly  interwoven  in  the  acts  and  lives  of  our 
modern  reformers,  that  I  may  venture  to  say  that  should 
the  Prohibitionists  ever  gain  complete  political  power  in 
this  country  we  shall  see  rigid,  intolerant  Sunday  laws 
in  comparison  to  which  those  early  blue  laws  of  Con- 
necticut would  be  a  delicate  shade. 

To  doubt  this,  would  be  to  refute  the  absolute  facts 
that  appear.  A  Prohibition  nation  would  be,  beyond 
every  reasonable  doubt,  a  religio-politico  system  of  gov- 
ernment in  which  every  spark  of  the  liberties  of  the  peo- 
ple would  be  extinguished;  and  this  because,  as  Mill 
says,  "so  monstrous  a  .principle  is  far  more  dangerous 
than  any  single  interference  with  liberty ; —  there  is  no 
violation  of  liberty  which  it  would  not  justify." 

Therefore,  we  conclude  that  the  principle  underlying 
and  giving  rise  to  Prohibition,  should  it  obtain  every- 
where, would  crush  out  every  vestige  of  individual  lib- 
erty, and  its  adherents  would  justify  their  course  by  the 
"monstrous  principle";  namely,  that  "it  is  the  absolute 
social  right  of  every  individual  that  every  other  individ- 
ual shall  act  in  every  respect  exactly  as  he  ought  to  act." 
Prohibitionists  must  necessarily  stand  for  this  "mon- 

20 


strous  principle,"  and  therefore,  as  certainly  as  two  and 
two  make  four,  Prohibition  is  a  menace  to  the  American 
system  of  government. 

An  Old-Time  Fallacy 

For  many  years  the  Prohibitionists  have  systemat- 
ically promulgated  the  fallacy  that  the  poverty  of  the 
working  class  is  caused  by  drink.  And  this  they  con- 
tinue to  do  in  face  of  all  the  facts,  amply  proven  by  all 
available  statistics,  that  flatly  contradict  the  fallacy. 

On  the  question  of  poverty  and  drink,  the  opinion  of 
Francis  E.  Willard  ought  to  be  accepted  by  the  Prohibi- 
tionists first  of  all.  She  says  : 

"For  myself,  twenty-three  years  of  study  and  observa- 
tion have  convinced  me  that  poverty  is  the  prime  cause 
of  intemperance,  and  that  misery  is  the  mother  and 
hereditary  appetite  the  father  of  the  drink  hallucina- 
tion. .  .  .  For  this  reason  I  have  become  an  advo- 
cate of  such  a  change  in  social  conditions  as  shall  stamp 
out  the  disease  of  poverty  even  as  medical  science  is 
stamping  out  leprosy,  smallpox,  and  cholera;  and  I  be- 
lieve the  age  in  which  we  live  will  yet  be  characterized 
as  one  of  those  dark,  dismal,  and  damning  ages  when 
some  people  were  so  dead  to  the  love  of  their  kind  that 
they  left  them  in  poverty  without  a  heartache  or  a 
blush." 

An  editorial  in  the  New  York  World  some  time  ago 
contained  the  following  significant  statement: 

"Only  two  families  in  every  hundred  of  the  1575 
which  have  been  in  the  care  of  the  Association  for  Im- 
proving the  Condition  of  the  Poor  this  summer  were 
brought  to  poverty  through  intemperance.  The  percen- 
tage goes  against  preconceived  notions  and  is,  indeed, 
surprisingly  small.  It  should  disturb  that  prosperous 

21 


complacency  which  sees  in  poverty  only  or  mainly  the 
penalty  for  wanton  misdeed.  The  Association's  report 
for  1909  showed  that  intemperance,  imprisonment,  de- 
sertion, 'shiftlessness  and  inefficiency,'  all  told,  accounted 
for  not  12  per  cent  of  those  brought  to  want.  The  figures 
for  that  year  showed  that  65  per  cent  of  the  poverty 
was  due  to  two  causes  —  sickness  and  unemployment." 

Carroll  D.  Wright,  in  the  "Eighteenth  Annual  Report 
of  the  Commission  of  Labor,"  shows  that  only  one-fourth 
of  one  per  cent  of  all  cases  of  non-employment  in  the 
United  States  is  due  to  intemperance. 

During  the  winter  months  of  1913-14,  the  number  of 
unemployed  men  and  women  in  the  United  States  was 
appalling.  New  York,  Chicago,  San  Francisco,  and  the 
large  cities,  were  taxed  to  the  utmost  to  care  for  the 
"jobless." 

It  was  estimated  that  New  York  City  had  its  quota 
of  400,000  idle,  Chicago  200,000,  San  Francisco  30,000. 
Organized  armies  of  the  unemployed  clamored  for  work 
and  for  bread,  and  in  the  country  districts  idle  men  were 
everywhere  tramping  to  and  fro  in  search  of  work. 
"THE  UNEMPLOYED"  was  a  standing  headliner  of 
the  public  press.  Suicides  from  inability  to  find  work 
were  startlingly  prevalent ;  and  the  whole  country  was 
perplexed  as  to  how  to  adjust  complex  conditions  so  as 
to  relieve  untold  suffering  and  misery. 

Were  the  Prohibitionists  on  hand  at  that  time  with 
any  sort  of  a  program,  solution  or  panacea  for  the  diffi- 
culty? Not  at  all.  All  their  efforts  were  reserved  for 
election  day;  their  energies  stored  up  for  the  glad  time 
when  well-paid  agitators  travel  the  country  in  Pullman 
cars  to  tell  the  people  of  rural  communities  that  "poverty 
is  caused  by  drink." 

22 


Industrial  Conditions  Responsible 

The  fact  of  the  matter  is :  that  in  the  time  when  the 
situation  of  the  unemployed  is  most  aggravated  —  when 
it  attracts  nation-wide  attention  —  singularly  enough,  no 
voice  was  raised,  either  by  individuals,  societies,  labor 
organizations,  or  the  press,  publicly,  attributing  the  ab- 
normal and  distressing  conditions  to  the  drink  habit. 

All  these  know  better.  They  know,  as  the  New  York 
Association  discovered  by  its  investigation,  that  inabil- 
ity to  find  work,  and  sickness,  has  brought  the  great  army 
of  idle  men  and  women  to  their  plight.  They  know  that 
our  productive  ability  is  increasing  much  more  rapidly 
than  our  consumptive  capacity,  and  that  the  statesmen- 
ship  of  this  country  as  well  as  that  of  every  other  coun- 
try in  the  world  is  grappling  not  with  any  merely  indi- 
vidual or  national,  but  with  a  world  problem. 

They  know  that  in  China,  with  its  hundreds  of  mil- 
lions of  frugal,  temperate,  hard-toiling  people;  in  Tur- 
key, with  its  sober,  industrious,  Mahomet-worshiping 
masses;  in  India,  with  its  almost  countless  thousands, 
governed  by  strict  religious,  moral  and  ethical  codes, — 
the  trouble  is  identical :  it  is  economic.  In  the  present 
industrial  system  of  those  lands,  as  well  as  our  own, 
there  is  no  longer  work  enough  for  all,  not  sufficient 
jobs  for  the  number  of  toilers,  and  thus,  necessarily  and 
unfortunately,  there  must  be  the  great  bodies  of  the  un- 
employed. 

The  trouble  lies  in  the  industrial  and  social  system, 
and  not  in  the  individual  primarily,  whether  he  be  Turk, 
Chinaman,  Hindoo  or  Christian.  All  the  statistics  gath- 
ered from  every  available  source  will  bear  out  the  asser- 
tion that  the  problem  is  economic,  and  it  is  only  unwise 
presumption  that  will  even  attempt  to  lay  these  distress- 
ing conditions  and  results  to  the  drink  habit. 

23 


But  you  may  explode  this  popular  fallacy  of  the  pro- 
hibitionist into  atoms,  and  he  persistently  gathers  to- 
gether the  fragmentary  portions  of  his  fanciful  theory, 
and  comes  back  with  the  same  old 'story  and  tells  it  in 
the  same  old  way. 

Perhaps  he  realizes  that  to  allow  its  peaceful  demise, 
means  to  leave  Prohibition  standing  absolutely  without 
a  remedy  for  the  problem  of  unemployment  or  the  gen- 
eral industrial  conditions  of  over-production.  Then, 
having  no  practical  remedy  for  intemperance,  no  remedy 
for  the  ills  and  troubles  of  the  working-class,  and  no  rem- 
edy for  anything  else,  he  should  graciously  step  aside 
and  make  room  for  the  real  world-movements  for  im- 
provement and  progress  along  rational  and  practical 
lines  of  individual  and  national  development. 

He  ought  to  realize  that  in  the  final  analysis  all  evils 
are  connected  with  life  itself,  for  evil  is  not  in  things,  but 
in  men  or  women  who  abuse  or  misuse  things.  And  he 
should  recognize  the  patent  truth  that  "you  cannot  leg- 
islate men  by  civil  action  into  the  performance  of  good 
and  righteous  deeds." 

The  Opinion  of  an  Economist 

Mr.  J.  B.  Osborne,  in  "The  Liquor  Question  — 
Political,  Moral  and  Economic  Phases,"  says : 

"The  abolition  of  poverty  and  better  education  for 
the  masses,  are  the  only  remedies  for  the  disease  of  alco- 
holism. 

"Alcoholism,  however,  is  not  as  prevalent  as  Mr. 
Charm  or  the  usual  advocate  of  Prohibition  would  have 
you  believe.  United  States  reports  for  1909  show  the 
average  number  of  deaths  attributed  to  alcoholism  to  be 
only  2811;  from  scalds  and  burns,  6772;  from  drowning, 
5387;  from  poison,  3390;  from  suicide,  5498;  while  killed 

24 


and  maimed  on  railroads  we  have  a  total  of  about  18,000. 

"Certainly  no  one  would  advocate  the  prohibition  of 
water  because  5000  people  annually  get  drowned;  nor 
the  abolition  of  the  railroads  because  18,000  are  killed 
and  maimed  annually. 

"Thousands  of  working-men  lose  their  lives  ever}'-  year 
in  the  coal  and  lead  mines,  but  no  efforts  are  made  by 
the  prohibitionists  to  secure  proper  ventilation  and  in- 
spection of  the  mines  or  safety  appliances  for  the  rail- 
roads. That  the  State  has  power  to  prohibit  or  abolish 
the  legalized  sale  of  liquor  no  intelligent  person  will 
deny.  The  State  has  power  also  to  abolish  the  Church 
and  transform  its  property  into  State  property  as  was 
recently  done  in  France  under  the  direction  of  Premier 
Clemenceau. 

"The  action  of  the  French  government  in  rhis  in- 
stance, however,  did  not  reduce  the  amount  of  religion 
in  France ;  on  the  contrary,  it  had  the.  effect  of  making 
the  lukewarm  churchman  more  active  and  zealous  in  the 
church's  cause. 

"Under  laws  prohibiting  the  liquor  business  we  find 
the  same  results.  In  the  State  of  Maine,  the  oldest  pro- 
hibition State  in  the  Union,  we  find  more  arrests  for 
drunkenness,  in  proportion  to  the  population,  than  in 
any  State  where  we  have  the  licensed  saloon. 

"All  Christian  nations  have  for  centuries  accepted  the 
prohibitory  laws  of  the  ten  commandments  sr.ch  as  'Thou 
Shalt  Not  Kill/  and  yet  it  is  the  same  Christian  nations 
that  have  the  largest  armies  and  navies,  and  that  have 
been  doing  nearly  all  the  killing  for  thousands  of  years; 
likewise,  Thou  shalt  not  steal,'  while  today  the  most  re- 
spected citizens  of  every  Christian  nation  in  the  world 
are,  at  the  same  time,  the  world's  biggest  robbers. 

"The  power  of  government  is  limited  when  it  comes 
to  controlling  or  regulating  the  thought  cf  the  individual, 

25 


nor  is  it  in  the  province  of  government  to  say  when, 
where,  or  what,  citizens  should  eat,  drink  or  wear.  The 
wisest  government  would  promote  conditions  under 
which  the  people  would  have  plenty  to  ear,  plenty  to 
drink,  plenty  to  wear  and  good  houses  to  live  in.  What 
he  should  eat  and  drink  as  well  as  the  amount  and  kind, 
or  the  color  of  the  clothes  he  should  wear,  should  be 
the  function  of  the  individual." 

Effects  of  Prohibition 

The  effect  of  Prohibition,  sumptuary  taw  enacted  in 
government,  upon  the  political  fabric  of  the  government, 
should  claim  the  serious  attention  of  American  citizens 
particularly.  We  can  hardly  recur  to  the  consideration 
of  this  subject  too  often. 

Prohibition  is  essentially  a  repressive  measure,  and 
all  history  shows  that  repressive  measures,  under  ordi- 
nary conditions,  not  only  fail,  but  worse  than  fail.  In 
aiming  to  do  away  with  one  evil,  Prohibitionists  set  up 
a  vastly  greater  one.  In  our  American  political  life  the 
very  worst  political  conditions  may  ensue. 

Prohibition  laws  do  not  actually  prohibit,  as  every 
one  knows;  but  they  do  bring  abouz  a  state  of  affairs, 
ui.on  whatever  scale  attempted,  abhorrent  to  every  right- 
thinking  person.  As  to  some  uf  the  results,  Professor 
Hugo  Munsterberg,  of  Harvard  University,  says: 

"Judges  know  how  rapidly  the  value  of  the  oath  sinks 
in  courts  where  violation  of  the  prohibition  laws  is  a  fre- 
quent charge,  and  how  habitual  perjury  becomes  tol- 
erated by  respectable  people.  The  city  politicians  know 
still  better  how  closely  blackmail  and  corruption  hang 
together,  in  the  social  psychology,  with  the  enforcement 
of  laws  that  strike  against  the  belief  and  traditions  of 
wider  circles.  The  public  service  becomes  degraded, 

26 


the  public  conscience  becomes  dulled.  And  can  there  be 
any  doubt  that  disregard  of  laws  is  the  most  dangerous 
psychological  factor  in  our  present-day  American  civ- 
ilization." 

And  upon  this  question  of  the  effectiveness  of  Pro- 
hibitory legislation,  and  the  effects  of  such  legislation 
on  the  moral  life  of  the  nation,  the  Committee  of  Fifty 
on  the  Physiological  Aspects  of  the  Liquor  Problem  in 
its  exhaustive  report  published  in  1905,  said: 

"There  has  been  concurrent  evil  of  prohibitory  legis- 
lation. The  efforts  to  enforce  it  during  forty  years  have 
had  some  unlooked-for  effects  on  public  respect  for 
courts,  judicial  proceedings,  oaths  and  laws  in  general, 
and  for  officers  of  the  law,  legislators  and  public  serv- 
ants. .  .  .  The  public  has  seen  law  defied,  a  whole 
generation  of  habitual  law-breakers  schooled  in  evasion 
and  shamelessness,  courts  ineffective  through  fluctuations 
of  policy,  delays,  perjuries,  negligencies  and  other  mis- 
carriages of  justice,  officers  of  the  law  double-faced  and 
mercenary,  legislators  timid  and  insincere,  candidates  for 
office  hypocritical  and  truckling,  and  office-holders  un- 
faithful to  pledges  and  public  expectation.  Through  an 
agitation  which  has  always  had  a  moral  end,  these  im- 
moralities have  been  developed  and  made  conspicuous." 

Representative  Claude  U.  Stone,  of  Illinois,  in  the  de- 
bate in  Congress  over  the  Hobson  resolution  for  Nation- 
al Prohibition,  said: 

"There  is  State-wide  prohibition  in  Maine,  and  the 
Webb-Kenyon  law  prevents  the  overriding  of  that  law 
by  other  States,  and  yet  there  are  cities  in  Maine  that 
have  more  shops  per  capita  for  the  public  sale  of  liquor 
than  my  home  city,  which  is  the  greatest  distilling  city  in 
the  world.  In  parts  of  Maine  candidates  for  sheriff,  who 
have  the  enforcing  of  the  law,  cannot  be  elected  to  of- 
fice if  they  do  not  give  a  public  pledge  that  they  will  vio- 

27 


late  their  oath  of  office  and  will  not  enforce  the  laws. 
The  same  can  be  said  of  Georgia,  another  prohibition 
State.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  people  should  be 
permitted  to  determine  by  their  own  votes  the  character 
of  restraint  that  should  be  placed  upon  themselves." 

In  the  same  debate  in  Congress,  Representative  Julius 
Kahn,  of  California,  remarked : 

"Mr.  Speaker,  prohibition  is  not  temperance.  Tem- 
perance makes  for  human  progress.  It  should  be  in- 
voked in  regard  to  our  food,  our  drink,  our  dress,  and 
even  our  physical  exercise.  As  many  people  die  from 
overeating  as  die  from  excessive  use  of  alcohol.  Exces- 
sive physical  exercise  has  frequently  led  to  heart  failure 
and  death.  Temperance  not  alone  in  the  use  of  alcohol, 
but  temperance  in  everything  that  affects  the  human 
race,  is  what  should  be  taught  in  the  homes  and  schools 
of  this  country.  Temperance  harms  no  one,  on  the  con- 
trary, it  does  good.  Prohibition  on  the  other  hand,  has  * 
generally  resulted  in  making  men  liars,  sneaks  and  hypo- 
crites. If  men  want  liquor,  they  can  invariably  get  it, 
and  they  can  get  it  even  in  prohibition  States." 

The  testimony  is  quite  overwhelming:  that  Prohibi- 
tion in  government  corrupts  courts,  encourages  false 
oaths,  intimidates  legislators,  causes  public  officials  to 
be  double-faced  and  mercenary;  makes  sneaks,  liars  and 
hypocrites  out  of  men ;  increases  bribery ;  opens  the  way 
for  illegal  traffic,  and  fosters  an  immoral  negligence  of 
law  and  order !  And  in  addition  to  all  this,  it  lessens 
drunkenness  not  a  whit;  but  on  the  contrary,  increases 
intemperance,  making  it  more  possible  and  perhaps  more 
inviting  to  those  unable  to  curb  the  appetite. 

What  an  indictment  is  this  of  prohibition;  and  being 
true,  it  would  seem  these  well-established  and  undenia- 
ble facts  concerning  the  results  of  Prohibition  would 
serve  to  convince  the  citizen  who  is  governed  by  reason 

28 


and  sound  judgment  rather  than  by  sentiment  and  emo- 
tion, that  Prohibition  in  its  practical  development  is  a 
real  menace  to  the  American  system  of  government! 

Collective  Tyranny  in  Government 

Left  to  impractical  theorizing,  Prohibition  is  harm- 
less :  allowed  to  enter  the  realm  of  civil  government  as  a 
practical  working  force,  it  becomes  dangerous,  threaten- 
ing not  only  one  liberty,  but  all  the  liberties  of  the  people. 
For  in  the  principle  of  Prohibition  lies  the  germ  of  col- 
lective tyranny  from  which  may  arise  every  species  of 
intolerance  and  despotism  —  an  intolerative  principle  as 
far  removed  from  the  principle  of  American  liberty  as 
heaven  is  from  hell,  and  as  different  in  every  essential 
from  the  spirit  of  republican  government  —  a  true  democ- 
racy —  as  the  breath  of  the  polar  iceberg  .  is  different 
from  the  blaze  of  the  equatorial  sun ! 

Could  the  American  public  see  Prohibition  as  it  is, 
and  not  what  it  seems  to  be :—  then  this  un-American 
and  un-Christian  movement  would  speedily  be  rele- 
gated to  the  shades  of  oblivion,  and  real  and  effective  re- 
form along  moral,  social  and  intellectual  lines  would  be- 
gin. As  it  is,  Prohibition  actually  stands,  like  a  Chinese 
Wall,  in  the  pathway  of  real  reform. 
Says  Professor  Munsterberg: 

"The  evils  of  drink  exist,  and  to  neglect  their  cure 
would  be  criminal ;  but  to  rush  on  to  the  conclusion  that 
every  vineyard  ought,  therefore,  to  be  devastated  is  un- 
worthy the  logic  of  a  self-governing  nation." 

The  evils  of  gluttony  also  exist,  and  that  more  people 
die  from  direct  and  indirect  causes  arising  from  over- 
eating than  from  drink  will  not  be  denied,  yet  who  would 
propose  a  law  to  close  the  butcher  shops,  and  prohibit 
the  milling  of  fine  flour  and  the  importation  of  tea  and 
coffee  —  higher  medical  and  dietary  authorities  having 
decided  all  these  latter  to  be  injurious  —  in  order  to  im- 
prove the  physical  condition  of  the  people! 

Compulsory  Prohibition,  according  to  Mr.  Joseph 
Chamberlain,  M.P.,  "only  leads  to  drinking  in  worse 
forms  than  under  the  old  system."  Count  Tolstoi,  in 
speaking  of  the  Prohibition  movement  in  America  ex- 

29 


pressed  the  belief  that  "the  people  in  America  seem  to 
be  tending  in  a  wholly  wrong  direction  in  this  matter." 
Justin  McCarthy,  M.P.,  alludes  to  Prohibition  in  the 
United  States  as  a  "gross  and  ludicrous  imposture." 
President  Andrew  D.  White  refers  to  the  theory  and 
practice  as  regards  the  drink  problem  as  "pernicious." 
Sir  William  Treloar,  former  Lord  Mayor  of  London, 
calls  these  restrictive  measures  "ridiculous."  Bishop 
Hall,  of  Vermont,  asserts  that  "Prohibition  drives  under- 
ground the  mischief  which  it  seeks  to  cure." 

Thousands  of  good,  well-informed  citizens  of  this 
country,  high  in  public  and  social  life,  many  of  these 
leaders  in  religious  sentiment  and  thought,  are  united  in 
the  belief  that  Prohibition  begins  at  the  wrong  end  of  the 
matter,  and  they  renounce  it  as  not  only  weak,  inefficient 
and  impractical,  but  destructive  to  the  American  ideals. 
The  art  of  self-control,  public  and  scientific  education, 
an  understanding  of  hygienic  and  healthful  living,  proper 
social  and  economic  development  and  surroundings :  in 
these  lie  the  true  solution  of  the  problem  of  intemper- 
ance; and  not  at  all  in  sumptuary  laws  and  prohibitory 
legislation,  simply  because  these  latter  "put  the  cart  be- 
fore the  horse,"  strike  at  effects  and  not  at  causes. 

Prohibition  Censorship  Despotic 

Let  us  not  forget  the  principles  for  which  our  great 
American  republic  stands.  Recollect,  that  the  tendency 
toward  imperial  government  and  despotic  rule  is  here 
today  as  it  has  been  in  every  nation  and  in  every  age  of 
the  world.  Menaces  to  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the 
people  are  ever-present:  the  continued  structure  of  safe- 
guarding laws  and  constitutions  presuppose  the  enemy 
to  be  ever  near: — tyranny  may  slumber,  but  let  bigotry 
and  intolerance  call  ever  so  softly,  and  it  springs  into 
active  life  and  being,  and  on  every  occasion,  with  con- 
summate cunning,  justifies  its  demands  with  a  specious 
pretext  —  censorship  for  the  good  of  the  people. 

Prohibition  censorship  is  one  of  these  specious  pre- 
texts; but  censorship  invariably  arrogates  to  itself  the 

30 


prerogatives  of  monarchy  and  the  exactions  of  martial 
law.  Government  of  an  Emperor  is  as  well  as  govern- 
ment by  unreasoning,  tyrannous  majority.  In  govern- 
ment, middle  ground  is  rarely  found,  and  if  it  is,  it  is 
only  for  a  temporary  period  and  for  reasons  of  expedi- 
ency: it;  is  a  question  of  republic  or  empire,  freedom  or 
slavery,  liberty  or  despotism,  the  life  or  death  of  the 
people !  Censorship  by  the  majority  —  as  to  what  the  in- 
dividual shall  eat,  or  'drink,  or  wear,  or  religiously  or 
irreligiously  do  or  observe  —  is  as  hateful  to  the  genuine 
American  citizen  as  would  be  the  censorship  of  a  Czar! 
Censorship  is  dictatorial  and  despotic:  it  overrides 
American  law  and  American  ideals;  it  is  the  rule  of  a 
suzerainty  in  place  of  fundamental  government :  it  claims 
to  be  acting  under  government,  but  it  is  actually  acting 
above  government.  Censorship  is  not  freedom;  the  very 
word  itself  precludes  the  view :  censorship  is  slavery,  in- 
tensified or  modified ;  it  is  the  same  thing  whether  it  be 
under  American  rulers  or  the  Great  Khan  of  Tartary. 
Prohibition  censorship  is  only  the  beginning :  it  is  not  the 
end.  Beneath  it  all,  lie  the  claws  of  the  tiger  —  the  claws 
of  fanatical  bigotry  and  misrule  —  and  ultimately,  if  not 
checked,  the  whole  American  people  will  feel  those  claws. 
But  then:  IT  WOULD  BE  TOO  LATE! 

Long  ago  John  Quincy  Adams  sounded  a  timely 
warning.  He  said : 

"Forget  not,  I  pray  you,  the  right  of  personal  free- 
dom :  self-government  is  the  foundation  of  all  our  polit- 
ical and  social  institutions.  Seek  not  to  enforce  upon 
your  brother  by  legislative  enactment  the  virtue  that  he 
can  possess  only  by  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience 
and  the  energy  of  his  will." 

In  conclusion:  John  Stuart  Mill  is  right,  when  he 
says  Prohibition  is  "so  monstrous  a  principle"  as  to  be 
"far  more  dangerous  than  any  single  interference  with 
liberty" ;  a  principle  that  there  is  "no  violation  of  liberty 
which  it  would  not  justify." 

All  religious  despotism  commences  by  combination 
and  influence,  and  as  well-said  by  Col.  Richard  M.  John- 
son in  his  memorable  U.  S.  Senate  Report  of  1829,  "when 

31 


that  influence  begins  to  operate  upon  the  political  insti- 
tutions of  a  country  the  civil  power  soon  bends  under  it; 
and  the  catastrophe  of  other  nations  furnishes  an  awful 
warning  of  the  consequence." 

Will  the  people  of  this  great  nation  listen  to  the  siren 
voice  of  this  modern  destroyer  of  personal  freedom,  and 
cutting  loose  from  ancient  moorings,  turn  back  to  the 
hateful  paths  of  despotism?  Will  the  republic  deny  the 
sacred  principles  of  religious  and  personal  liberty,  whose 
first  purchase-price  was  the  blood  of  the  minutemen  of 
Lexington?  Or,  like  a  political  rock  of  Gibraltar,  stand 
fast  upon  the  fundamental  principles  of  its  being,  con- 
tinuing to  safeguard  and  maintain  the  constitutional 
guaranties  of  all  its  citizens? 

It  is  the  American  people  that  must  answer  these 
momentous  questions !  And  answer  them  they  will ! 
There  is  no  escape  from  the  responsibility !  The  future 
of  the  Republic  rests  upon  their  decision! 

It  is  the  bounden  duty  of  every  American  freeman 
to  speak  against,  to  write  against,  to  vote  against  the 
menace  of  Prohibition! 

PROHIBITION  IS  A  MENACE  TO 

THE  PROSPERITY  OF  THE  COMMUNITY 
THE  PEACE  AND   TRANQUILLITY   OF  THE 

PEOPLE. 
THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  LIBERTIES  OF  THE 

CITIZENS. 
THE    POLITICAL    INSTITUTIONS     OF    THE 

LAND. 

THE  STABILITY  OF  THE  REPUBLIC. 
A  vote  against  Prohibition  is  a  vote  against  THESE 
MENACES ! 


32 


The  Menace  of  Prohibition 

Should  be  widely  circulated  by  every  advocate  and 
champion  of  Personal  Liberty  and  Constitutional 
Rights 

Right  at  this  time — in  the  crisis  of  American  Liberty! 

There  is  nothing  just  like  it 

The  arguments  are  not  of  the  stereotyped  class 

The  facts  given  are  indisputable 

It  does  not  offend  the  man  on  the  other  side  of  the 
question 

It  appeals  to  the  citizen  who  desires  fair  play — and 
wants  to  see  the  American  Republic  continue  a  free 
nation,  safeguarding  the  interests  of  ALL  and  grant- 
ing "special  privileges  to  none" 

REMEMBER  ALWAYS  — 
"Eternal  Vigilance  is  the  price  of  Liberty" 

SINGLE  COPIES,  10  CENTS  EACH 

BY  MAIL,  POSTPAID 

Special  rates  on  large  quantities — 100,  500  and  1006 
lots — will  be  given  upon  application 

Address  the  Author — 

Mrs.  LULU  WIGHTMAN 

314  West  First  St.,  Los  Angeles,  Cal. 


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